Campaign donations and $24 million for Medicaid mental health pills come under fire in South Carolina

As South Carolina grapples with a $700 million budget deficit, it's also trying to right a Medicaid agency that's forecast to be $255 million in debt — and emerging as key mark in that battle is $24 million spent on three mental health drugs called antipsychotics

Now legislation is being pushed to make doctors more discriminating when choosing generic versions of the drugs first. 

Key in that debate is how during the last three years many key South Carolina political figures (yes, including now Gov. Nikki Haley) have accepted some $100,000 from the drug makers of AstraZeneca, Bristol-Myers Squibb and Eli Lilly.

The State has a nice profile of the debate and what the proposed fix is; read their report here.